No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Corvette DP Wins Sahlen’s Six Hours, First Prototype Team To Win Two Races In 2015

The final hour of the TUDOR United SportsCar Championship’s Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International saw its fair share of action and excitement, not least of which was the first repeat Prototype (P) class winner of the 2015 season by the No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Racing Corvette DP driven by Richard Westbrook and Michael Valiante.

 

The team’s first victory of the year came at the Continental Tire Monterey Grand Prix Powered by Mazda at Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca in May.

 

After a 14-minute stoppage for rain with less than two hours remaining, then-race leader Ricky Taylor in the No. 10 Konica Minolta Corvette DP made contact with the tire barrier at the exit of Turn 10. Needing fuel to make it to the finish, Christian Fittipaldi pitted the No. 5 Mustang Sampling/Cedar Tree Corvette DP under green anticipating a caution due to the large debris left on the track from No. 10. The caution did not come until later, and the No. 5 team also was penalized issued for speeding through pit lane.

 

The No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Ford EcoBoost/Riley DP of Joey Hand inherited the lead. He led under a lengthy full-course caution in wet conditions and took the the green flag on a restart with 16 minutes left, running low on fuel.

 

Hand lost the lead to Westbrook when he pitted for fuel. Shortly thereafter, the race’s final full-course caution came out for an incident involving the No. 007 Aston Martin Vantage GT Daytona car of Kuno Wittmer. Westbrook took the checkered flag under caution.

 

Hand and co-driver Scott Pruett finished second, followed by Fittipaldi and co-driver Joao Barbosa in the No. 5 entry. The result enabled the No. 5 team to continue to lead the Tequila Patrón North American Endurance Cup Prototype standings after three of four races.

Van der Zande, Hedlund, Popow Give Starworks Motorsport Second Straight In PC

There’s something about wet weather that seems to agree with Starworks Motorsport and Renger van der Zande, as the team picked up their second consecutive Prototype Challenge race victory in the Sahlen’s Six Hours of The Glen. The team also won in the wet last month at the Chevrolet Sports Car Classic presented by Metro Detroit Chevy Dealers.

 

This weekend, van der Zande joined forces with Alex Popow and Mike Hedlund for the victory, as regular co-driver Mirco Schultis was unavailable. It was van der Zande’s fifth career TUDOR Championship victory and Popow’s ninth victory across TUDOR Championship, American Le Mans Series and GRAND-AM Rolex Sports Car Series competition. It was the first win for Hedlund.

 

Mike Guasch, Tom Kimber-Smith and Andrew Palmer finished second in the No. 52 Cuttwood/Spyder ORECA FLM09 for PR1/Mathiasen Motorsports; followed by Martin Plowman, Daniel Burkett and Matt McMurry in the No. 16 BAR1 Motorsports ORECA FLM09. The PR1/Mathiasen team continues to lead the Patrón Endurance Cup standings heading to the season-ending Petit Le Mans powered by Mazda in October.

NEWS AND NOTES

·        The No. 38 Performance Tech Motorsports Ric Man Construction/GO-PUCK/Braille Batteries ORECA FLM09 driven by Conor Daly pulled out to a solid early lead, but fell back due to an ill-timed pit stop and a pair of on-track incidents.

 

·        The next event for the TUDOR Championship will be the Mobil 1 SportsCar Grand Prix Presented by Hawk Performance on Sunday, July 12.

QUOTEBOARD

Richard Westbrook, Driver – No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Racing Corvette DP

“We had plenty in the tank actually. When Michael pitted the last time when he came in under his own, I knew we’d be in good shape and that was it until the end. It was super fun out there, especially when it was raining out there and we were on slicks. I think the officials did a great job today, with the red flagging and the standing water. They made some great tough calls today. But without the wiper at the end, it was tough to even see the safety car at the end. Then when it came out with the caution at the end, it was all about keeping if off the paint and just bringing it to the end.”

 

Michael Valiante, Driver – No. 90 VisitFlorida.com Racing Corvette DP

“I wasn’t feeling great over the last three days, but Richard and I were talking before the race just to stay safe during these conditions. We didn’t have the pace, but we tried to keep our head down and keep out of trouble. At one point we lost a windshield wiper and it made it hard to see. Then we had some electrical issues, but we kept trying, and took advantage of the (No.) 01 car there at the end.  It’s great to be leading the championship now, but I’ve learned from past years of racing that you can’t focus on that.”

 

Joey Hand, Driver – No. 01 Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates Ford EcoBoost/Riley DP

“We ran dry; we couldn’t have done our last lap. We did as much as we could leading up to the yellow. So at that situation we decided to try and build a gap and they told me to build one as big as possible. But it was so bad with the water on the mirrors, you couldn’t see out the back. It was so weird in the wet, I really like the rain, when they said go for it, I could just go for it. When I woke up this morning, I thought, today’s the day. It was crazy and it was hectic, but that’s what I live for, that’s why I like to race.”

 

Renger van der Zande, Driver – No. 8 Starworks Motorsport ORECA FLM09

“I knew we were strong in the wet, you could see that in the race. We had a 30-second gap, up until the pit stop. We replaced a rear wing, because we had confidence we could get it back. (Team owner) Peter Baron is a master at tactics for the race. For the next race we are really sorted with the car. The speed is in there, we are on a roll and if nothing happens we can fight here for the championship.”

 

Alex Popow, Driver – No. 8 Starworks Motorsport ORECA FLM09

“I’m finally happy to win the Sahlen’s Six Hours. I’ve been here with Starworks team for the last five or six years, every time something happens. We have been one of the fastest cars out there, but it was always something. This car, the team did a great job, it was a fast car right off the truck. We kept the car running right. Renger did an awesome job in the rain, keeping the car straight. Just a great job. We did some changes on the car during the race, but every single call the team made was perfect. It was great.”

Adam Sinclair